Favorite of 2016: The victims of Greenfield Avenue

Located on city’s South Side, Greenfield Avenue has become the city’s main hub for prostitution, and in the process created two sets of victims — the sexually exploited women, and those who live and work on Greenfield Avenue. As a resident of the area, I longed to tell the story of some of the women, who face the threat of violence on a daily basis, and the residents, whose children are being exposed to drug use, condoms, drug paraphernalia and open-air prostitution.

I also wanted to shed light on the challenges that law enforcement and nonprofit organizations that work with sexually exploited women face in addressing prostitution, human trafficking and related issues such as mental illness and drug addiction. By doing so, my goal was to offer a balanced and thoughtful look at an issue that has been devastating my community.

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About Edgar Mendez

Edgar Mendez is a beat reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, covering Clarke Square, the neighborhood in which he lives. Prior to joining the team at NNS he was a feature writer for El Conquistador Newspaper in Milwaukee, and a web writer/reporter for Scene262.com in Racine.